Celebrated 1-7 June, Volunteers Week overlapped with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and it just did not seem right to allow this recognition of all that volunteers bring to the work of so many charities, our own included, to be lost amidst all those celebrations. So, with just a couple of days left, we want to honour all the amazing volunteers for their contribution to making the world a better place and improving the lives of so many.
Volunteers Week is “an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering”. (It really is millions, and the impact they have is massive. Take a look at some of the stats if you want to get an idea of how many people volunteer and just how much of a difference they make…) For ourselves at Community Lives Matter, it’s our chance to say a big, loud and public “thank you” to all the volunteers who serve in our activities and programmes. For none of what we do would be possible without the dozens of volunteers who give of their time and energy to keep things moving.
Our volunteers come in all shapes and sizes, and fulfil many different roles. Support workers, trustees, activity leads, befrienders, washer-uppers and kitchen helpers, servers and games monitors, event organisers, language coaches, drivers and gofers, fundraisers, mentors and advisers, social media managers and graphic designers… more than 50 volunteers, between them giving over a hundred hours a week, all vital to the success of our work.
So, a big THANK YOU to every single one of you. Thank you for your smiles, your patience, and your willingness to take on a huge range of tasks, big and small. Thank you for being there day in, day out. Thank you for choosing to give your time, energy, resources and talents for the benefit of others. Thank you for sharing in the joys and challenges of meeting others’ needs. Thank you for making a difference.
Thank you x
This is written as one way we can say “thank you” to our marvellous volunteers. If you are someone who benefits from our services, maybe you could give volunteers a smile and a “thank you” too when you next see them! And if any of what has been said here inspires you to want to volunteer yourself, please take a look at our volunteering page or get in touch.